Union Trust Building

By The Cleveland Historical team

Union Trust was the nation's fifth largest trust company in the early 1920s and continued to grow in the years before the Great Depression. Reflecting this success, the bank opened its massive headquarters at East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue in 1924. It was built by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, the firm that also designed the Terminal Tower and a nearly identical bank building in the Chicago Loop. The building rose to 21 stories, had over 30 acres of floor space, and contained the largest banking room in the world at the time of its completion. The grand bank lobby featured Corinthian columns, 3-story tall barrel vaulted ceilings, and murals by Jules Guerin, who also painted two large murals inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The Union Trust became insolvent in 1933 and lost ownership of the building. After many years as Union Bank of Commerce, the building became the main Cleveland office of Columbus-based Huntington National Bank in the 1980s. Following Huntington's move to 200 Public Square in 2012, the stunning lobby is closed to public view.

Images

Children's Party, ca. 1930

A Children's Party in the Union Trust's banking room, ca. 1930.
Image courtesy of Cleveland State Library Special Collections View File Details Page